CRACKERS 3

Ever heard of this place called Hoorn? Probably not, unless you’re Dutch and paid attention in topography class. Like all other places in the old world, spots are crusty, but still they’re skated. Well, that’s where CRACKERS 3 video. It’s a video by Hoorn’s hottest crew, so we hit their spiritual leader Hidde Tuinte up to see if he could explain about their project.

– So, I don’t think anyone has an idea who or where you all come from, so please introduce yourself a little bit.We are a bunch of skateboarders from Hoorn, a small old city north of Amsterdam. We skate, hang and laugh together. I try to document some of it. Introducing all the boys is too much, you will see them in the video.

– What’s it like to skate in Hoorn? Are there any undiscovered spots that are waiting to be touched by some pro or is it as crusty as one might think?Skating in Hoorn is pretty tough, as the spots are kinda rugged. There are loads of spots, but you have to put in the effort and creativity to make it work. There are spots we skated for years and still find new ways of approaching them. As far as pro’s go, Jaws can jump from one of our houses or Ricky Oyola can come and do a pole jam.

– I can’t imagine you only filmed in Hoorn, what are some other places you visited? Any favourites?We filmed a lot in Amsterdam since it’s around the corner and some of us study there. In the Netherlands we often do day trips to skate other cities like Arnhem and Rotterdam. Also we did trips to Paris, Berlin and a few rounds through Belgium, covering Antwerpen, Mechelen and Brussels. We all find Brussels really appealing since the spots are really amazing but still have a rough edge. Also, in Belgium you can buy Carapils, which of course charged us up to do better tricks.

– What about the name of the video, Crackers 3? Is there anywhere we can see Crackers 1 or 2?The very first thing I filmed when I first got my VX was Chima eating some Crackers while waiting for a train. When that first tape was finished I made a little test edit called Crackers. Later that summer we went to Berlin for a couple of days to film, which resulted in Crackers 2. Crackers 3 was supposed to be just a Paris edit but some of us got injured there and got no clips. So we kept on filming until they could skate again. At some point we figured out that we had a lot of footage and Crackers 3 could be a full length.

– I think this is one of the rare Dutch videos from recent times that doesn’t focus heavily on a bigger city like Rotterdam. How important do you think it is to show not just the big city skating to others?There are spots to be found everywhere. But really, we just live in Hoorn so that’s were we skate. These are the spots just outside our front doors. I think it is sick if skaters from other cities get hyped on Hoorn footage and want to go skate our little town. When you live in a small town with a limited amount of spots you always tend to go to the bigger cities to skate. I think it’s sick if you stay in your own city and really explore the potential spots, which you’ve found yourself and nobody else knows.